Taxi driver arrested for murder of Chinese woman

By Loa Iok-sin / STAFF REPORTER

A taxi driver was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of a woman whose body was mutilated and dumped in a cemetery.

On Wednesday morning, residents in Taipei County's Bali Township (八里) discovered the body of Liu Liqing (劉麗清), a Chinese woman who had been married three times to Taiwanese men, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) reported yesterday.

Liu had two wounds on her chest and a third on her lower abdomen, and her body had been cut open from her neck to her genitalia, the report said.

Less than a day after the body was discovered, the police identified a taxi driver as the main suspect and arrested him, Chang Chun-ming (張俊明), the police officer in charge of the case, said in a press release yesterday.

Chang did not release the full name of the suspect at first, leaving out the middle character of his name. However, the Chinese-language United Evening News later identified the taxi driver as Che Hsing-hua (闕興華).

Che is an acquaintance of both Liu and Li Juanjuan (李娟娟), another Chinese woman married to a Taiwanese man, the report said.

Li asked Che to murder Liu after Li was repatriated to China because of her involvement in a prostitution case, the report said.

At Li's request, Che asked Liu out and killed her in a motel in Wugu (五股), Taipei County, it added.

"At the motel, Che hit Liu and stabbed her with a knife in the chest, killing her," Chang said.

Che then took Liu's body to another motel in Taoyuan County where it was cut open, Chang said.

Chang said Che cut the body open because he originally planned to dump it in the sea. However, Che changed his mind and instead left the body in the Bali cemetery, Chang said.

"We found it suspicious that Che had driven his car to the cemetery late at night and then washed his car at around 4am," Chang said.

A text message that Liu sent to her husband, telling him that "Che was involved" if something happened to her, was another key that led to Che's arrest.

"Che at first denied any involvement, but later admitted everything after we showed him all the evidence," Chang said.

Che will be charged with murder, but could face additional charges for desecrating the body and dumping it, Chang added.